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In this newsletter you'll find our latest blog post on the Productivity Commission's housing report (because I'm sure you haven't heard anything about it yet), two shorter posts on pre-lodgement checks and preliminary service agreements, and the week's news with our take on what matters.
Post 1: Rebuilding Australia's housing stock and the productivity problem
Australia is aiming to build 1.2 million new homes in five years. A recent Productivity Commission report found that productivity in housing construction has fallen by 12% over the past 30 years, while productivity across the wider economy rose by 49%.
In plain terms, we're building fewer homes per hour worked than we did 30 years ago, which feeds straight into higher prices and supply shortages. The report points to complex approvals, limited innovation and workforce constraints. The proposed fixes include streamlining regulation, encouraging new building methods and making the workforce more flexible.
Anthony Painter
Post 2: Pre-lodgement checks
Unexpected land issues are one of the most common causes of delays and budget blowouts. Pre-lodgement means checking zoning, soil, noise, council overlays and other constraints before you design, so there are no nasty surprises later. The post includes a real example and a free checklist to work through.
Anthony Painter
Post 3: Preliminary service agreements
A preliminary service agreement (PSA) is often the first contract you sign with a builder. It covers early work like site surveys, soil testing and preliminary design, and sets expectations before the main contract. Here's a quick overview of what it includes and what to watch for.
Anthony Painter
Introducing the Constructor Forum
We've launched a new, lightweight Constructor Forum, inspired by the no-frills format of Hacker News. Sign up is quick, the best posts get upvoted, and the aim is simple: discuss the right way to build, share good work you've seen, and get answers to quality construction questions.
It's a work in progress, so if you're interested in residential construction, please sign up and ask a question or post about something well built that impressed you.
Software of the week: TransferNow
Not sponsored, just software we use.
Email isn't secure, and attachment limits (about 20 to 25 MB) make large files like site photos and videos hard to share. TransferNow lets you send large files with a link, with no sign-up needed for one-off transfers. Free users can send up to 5 GB per transfer, files are encrypted, and you can set expiry dates, download limits and passwords.
Transfer now website: https://www.transfernow.net/
Browser extension of the week: uBlock Origin
Also not sponsored.
uBlock Origin is a free extension that blocks ads and trackers, which makes pages load faster and keeps more of your data private. It's available for Firefox, Edge and Opera. On Chrome, Google's policy changes mean you may need uBlock Origin Lite instead.
The week's residential construction news
The theme this week: "new" approaches to Australia's housing challenges.
- Housing near transport hubs. NSW will allow more low- and mid-rise housing around 171 transport hubs, aiming for 112,000 new homes over five years.
- Construction productivity. The Productivity Commission found housing construction productivity has fallen 12% over 30 years. Calls are growing for less red tape, faster approvals and more innovative building methods.
- Medium density in regional cities. Medium-density housing with small gardens is gaining ground, particularly in regional centres.
- Victoria's housing target. Victoria has set a target of 2.24 million new homes by 2051, working with councils on where they'll go.
- Melbourne Airport Rail. The federal government has committed an extra $2 billion, which could spur housing along the corridor.
- Foreign investors. A two-year ban on foreign investors buying established homes starts on 1 April 2025.
- Moreton Bay. The council is tightening rules on long-term camping on public land as homelessness rises, while working with housing agencies on alternatives.
Our view on this week's most important news
AARON PATRICK: The housing crisis and the six-hour tradie work day
"Now they're generally gone by 2.30. What used to be a nine-hour day is now a six-hour day."
Our comment: It's easy to criticise builders, councils and developers, but a builder's productivity is tied to the output of the trades they subcontract. That point is missing from most of the productivity debate. This isn't about blame. It's about recognising the limits of how we build now and finding ways to lift them. If we want to meet housing demand, the current approach simply isn't scalable.
There's also truth in the article's point about site culture. Push hard on quality and some trades will push back, or walk off the job. Ask for better work and you'll often hear "I've been doing this for X years", or nothing at all.
21-02-2025
- Here's why increasing productivity in housing construction is such a tricky problem to solve
- Red tape dragging construction productivity, says report
- Why first-home buyers aren't making the most of the biggest financial incentives on offer
- House in Erskineville by Architect George. A great use of space and a stunning design, though we'd rather not know the price.
- Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy: summary of key provisions
- Housing authority fast-tracks 6,000 homes
- VIDEO: Flooding forces new approach to housing developments
- Wagga mother's desperate roadside plea for housing aid
Our comment: In a country as resource-rich as Australia, housing shouldn't be a problem for anyone. It is, which means something has to change. If we want different results, we need different solutions.
On the productivity article, one point is worth repeating: amid the push to speed up approvals, loosening building regulations can lead to quality problems and inappropriate development. Faster is only better if it's still built right.
22-02-2025
- Apartments and terraces to be built around 171 NSW transport hubs
- HIA: Let's Build Australia
- Future Victoria: Back yards under threat as land costs force smaller gardens
- The Nationals WA commit $1 billion to Building Regional Homes
- Design guides for low-rise housing diversity (NSW)
Our comment on Let's Build Australia: Before the HIA and Master Builders call on others to act, it's worth reading the AHURI report. It found that the quality of residential construction in Australia lags behind comparable countries and is affecting the health and wellbeing of occupants. We'd like to see these associations put the same energy into making sure their own members deliver quality work. They could tie membership to performance. That's a hard step for an association funded by member fees, but it's the one that would give homeowners the most confidence.
Our comment on smaller backyards: Shrinking yards aren't just a design question. Outdoor space matters for the health and wellbeing of the people living there, especially families, and it deserves more weight than it gets.
23-02-2025
- Height limits finalised in 10 Melbourne hubs
- Green cities and zero emissions in construction (ABC Science Show)
- CBA announces a major lending change for priced-out buyers
- Why millions of mortgage borrowers could soon be better off
- Rise in ex-prisoners facing homelessness, struggle to reintegrate
Our comment: Housing should be a basic human right. No home means no job, no productivity and no hope. That's not acceptable.
24-02-2025
- The new type of home that property investors are choosing
- Qld's new satellite cities: where housing is coming in 2025
- The case of Australia's missing family-size apartments
- Quick fixes and long-term solutions to sky-rocketing rents
- Large residential subdivision and parkland, Teviot Road, Greenbank
- How the housing landscape is changing: John McGrath
- Housing named Logan's top issue
25-02-2025
- Victorian housing targets reduced in some Melbourne suburbs
- NSW launches $25bn rooftop housing initiative
- As Australian cities sprawl, outer suburbs are lacking basic services
- Secret advantages of new Aussie mega-housing revealed
- More builders likely to fail in absence of any construction silver bullet
- Master Builders urges federal budget to boost building sector
- Developers circle Sydney suburbs slated for rezoning around stations
- Our houses can't be the space for everything
Our comment on rooftop housing: This will be interesting. Most project homes are designed close to their structural limits to keep costs down, so they can barely carry what's on them now. Adding a storey usually means new piers and footings outside the existing footprint and a separate frame to carry the new floor. In many cases it'll be easier and cheaper to knock down and rebuild.
Our comment on build-to-rent: What guarantee do tenants have that rents won't keep rising simply because they can? Without regulation, build-to-rent puts a lot of power on the landlord's side.
Our comment on Master Builders: What is the association doing about the quality problems the AHURI report found across the industry? We'd urge the Master Builders to lead on quality as loudly as they lead on funding. Many homeowners assume "Master Builder" means a higher skill level. It's actually an association membership, so check licence history and past work yourself.
Our comment on rezoning: Expect developers to move quickly on these rezoned sites.
Our comment on smaller living: We need to redefine what a house is. Developers, through their estate covenants, and the authorities approving developments have shaped that definition for too long, and the result is a lot of one-size-fits-all design. Rethinking it would benefit everyone.
26-02-2025
- The housing crisis is turning into an inequality crisis
- Key electorates to swing on housing crisis, new poll warns
- Surge in demand for buyer's agents
- Coalition claims Labor's housing fund has built zero homes. Here's where they are
- 9 ways to fix Australia's housing crisis
- Construction productivity reset: housing productivity for a post-carbon era
- Accessibility changes to the national building code
- Australia's housing construction target downgraded
- Can you get a loan for a prefab home? Soon you might be able to
Our comment on buyer's agents: We now pay agents on both the buying and selling side of the same transaction. That adds cost without adding a single home. In a seller's market, commissions should be coming down, not up.
Our comment on "9 ways to fix Australia's housing crisis": A few points stood out.
- Build-to-rent bonds. We wrote about this last year in "Boomer Bonds". We don't support build-to-rent unless it's government-owned or regulated to prevent excessive rent increases. The bigger issue is that the occupant never owns anything, so there's no chance to build equity or long-term financial security.
- Restricting thinly capitalised builders. Our "Builderpulse" post looks at how to spot financially unstable builders. The reality is that many large builders are on shaky ground too, and governments need the sector to project confidence, so stricter rules seem unlikely.
- Tax reform, including whether negative gearing should be limited to the income of the underlying asset. Point 8 in the article is worth a read too.
Anthony Painter
Anthony Painter
Our comment on the productivity reset: A well-written article with solid points. This one stood out: housing supply constraints centre on land availability, which is largely in private hands, and land banking keeps prices high.
27-02-2025
- Construction activity recovered over the second half of 2024 (Westpac)
- Housing Delivery Authority fast-tracks 18 projects as State Significant Developments
- Australian homebuilders remain trapped in recession
- Could medium-density housing with small gardens help solve the housing crisis?
- Stronger Homes Grant to build resilience in North and Far North Queensland
- Can small homes fix our big housing problem?
- Falling housing inflation means more rate cuts
Our comment on NSW: Either NSW has the best PR department in the country, or it's genuinely getting more developments started than the other states, with Victoria second (based purely on my daily news reading).
Our comment on medium density: Most of our cities weren't well planned to begin with. More density without better transport means more congestion and fewer car parks.
From the homebuilders article: residential construction costs have risen by around 40% since the pandemic began.
That's all for this week
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